1 And it came to pass on one of the days, as he was teaching the people in the temple, and announcing the glad tidings, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up,
2 and spoke to him saying, Tell us by what authority thou doest these things, or who is it who has given thee this authority?
3 And he answering said to them, *I* also will ask you [one] thing, and tell me:
4 The baptism of John, was it of heaven or of men?
5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say, Why have ye not believed him?
6 but if we should say, Of men, the whole people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.
7 And they answered, they did not know whence.
8 And Jesus said to them, Neither do *I* tell you by what authority I do these things.
9 And he began to speak to the people this parable: A man planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country for a long time.
10 And in the season he sent to the husbandmen a bondman, that they might give to him of the fruit of the vineyard; but the husbandmen, having beaten him, sent [him] away empty.
11 And again he sent another bondman; but they, having beaten him also, and cast insult upon him, sent [him] away empty.
12 And again he sent a third; and they, having wounded him also, cast [him] out.
13 And the lord of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: perhaps when they see him they will respect [him].
14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir; [come,] let us kill him, that the inheritance may become ours.
15 And having cast him forth out of the vineyard, they killed [him]. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do to them?
16 He will come and destroy those husbandmen, and will give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it they said, May it never be!
17 But he looking at them said, What then is this that is written, The stone which they that builded rejected, this has become the corner-stone?
18 Every one falling on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.
19 And the chief priests and the scribes sought the same hour to lay hands on him, and they feared the people; for they knew that he had spoken this parable of them.
20 And having watched [him], they sent out suborned persons, pretending to be just men, that they might take hold of him in [his] language, so that they might deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.
21 And they asked him saying, Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest no [man's] person, but teachest with truth the way of God:
22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
23 But perceiving their deceit he said to them, Why do ye tempt me?
24 Shew me a denarius. Whose image and superscription has it? And answering they said, Caesar's.
25 And he said to them, Pay therefore what is Caesar's to Caesar, and what is God's to God.
26 And they were not able to take hold of him in [his] expressions before the people, and, wondering at his answer, they were silent.
27 And some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, coming up [to him],
28 demanded of him saying, Teacher, Moses wrote to us, If any one's brother, who has a wife, die, and he die childless, his brother shall take the wife and raise up seed to his brother.
29 There were then seven brethren: and the first, having taken a wife, died childless;
30 and the second [took the woman, and *he* died childless];
31 and the third took her: and in like manner also the seven left no children and died;
32 and last of all the woman also died.
33 In the resurrection therefore of which of them does she become wife, for the seven had her as wife?
34 And Jesus said to them, The sons of this world marry and are given in marriage,
35 but they who are counted worthy to have part in that world, and the resurrection from among [the] dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
36 for neither can they die any more, for they are equal to angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37 But that the dead rise, even Moses shewed in [the section of] the bush, when he called [the] Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob;
38 but he is not God of [the] dead but of [the] living; for all live for him.
39 And some of the scribes answering said, Teacher, thou hast well spoken.
40 For they did not dare any more to ask him anything.
41 And he said to them, How do they say that the Christ is David's son,
42 and David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand
43 until I put thine enemies [as] footstool of thy feet?
44 David therefore calls him Lord, and how is he his son?
45 And, as all the people were listening, he said to his disciples,
46 Beware of the scribes, who like to walk about in long robes, and who love salutations in the market-places, and first seats in the synagogues, and first places at suppers;
47 who devour the houses of widows, and as a pretext make long prayers. These shall receive a severer judgment.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Luke 20
Commentary on Luke 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
Lu 20:1-19. The Authority of Jesus Questioned, and His Reply—Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen.
(See on Mt 21:23.)
2. these things—particularly the clearing of the temple.
4. baptism of John—his whole ministry and mission, of which baptism was the seal.
5. Why then believed ye him not?—that is, in his testimony to Jesus, the sum of his whole witness.
7. could not tell—crooked, cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you no answer (Mt 7:6). But what dignity and composure does our Lord display as He turns their question upon themselves!
9-13. vineyard—(See on Lu 13:6). In Mt 21:33 additional points are given, taken literally from Isa 5:2, to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament authority.
husbandmen—the ordinary spiritual guides of the people, under whose care and culture the fruits of righteousness might be yielded.
went, &c.—leaving it to the laws of the spiritual husbandry during the whole length of the Jewish economy. (See on Mr 4:26.)
10. beat, &c.—(Mt 21:35); that is, the prophets, extraordinary messengers raised up from time to time. (See on Mt 23:37.)
13. my beloved son—Mark (Mr 12:6) still more affectingly, "Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved"; our Lord thus severing Himself from all merely human messengers, and claiming Sonship in its loftiest sense. (Compare Heb 3:3-6.)
it may be—"surely"; implying the almost unimaginable guilt of not doing so.
14. reasoned among themselves—(Compare Ge 37:18-20; Joh 11:47-53).
the heir—sublime expression of the great truth, that God's inheritance was destined for, and in due time to come into the possession of, His Son in our nature (Heb 1:2).
inheritance … ours—and so from mere servants we may become lords; the deep aim of the depraved heart, and literally "the root of all evil."
15. cast him out of the vineyard—(Compare Heb 13:11-13; 1Ki 21:13; Joh 19:17).
16. He shall come, &c.—This answer was given by the Pharisees themselves (Mt 21:41), thus pronouncing their own righteous doom. Matthew alone (Mt 21:43) gives the naked application, that "the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"—the great evangelical community of the faithful, chiefly Gentiles.
God forbid—His whole meaning now bursting upon them.
17-19. written—(in Ps 118:22, 23. See on Lu 19:38). The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the erection of which a certain stone, rejected as unsuitable by the spiritual builders, is, by the great Lord of the House, made the keystone of the whole. On that Stone the builders were now "falling" and being "broken" (Isa 8:15), "sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that Stone should fall upon them and grind them to powder" (Da 2:34, 35; Zec 12:3)—in their corporate capacity in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, but personally, as unbelievers, in a more awful sense still.
19. the same hour—hardly able to restrain their rage.
Lu 20:20-40. Entangling Questions about Tribute and the Resurrection—The Replies.
20-26. sent forth—after consulting (Mt 22:15) on the best plan.
spies—"of the Pharisees and Herodians" (Mr 12:13). See Mr 3:6.
21. we know, &c.—hoping by flattery to throw Him off His guard.
22. tribute—(See on Mt 17:24).
25. things which be Cæsar's—Putting it in this general form, it was impossible for sedition itself to dispute it, and yet it dissolved the snare.
and unto God—How much there is in this profound but to them startling addition to the maxim, and how incomparable is the whole for fulness, brevity, clearness, weight!
27-34. no resurrection—"nor angel nor spirit" (Ac 23:8); the materialists of the day.
34. said unto them—In Mt 22:29, the reply begins with this important statement:—"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures," regarding the future state, "nor the power of God," before which a thousand such difficulties vanish (also Mr 12:24).
36. neither … die any more—Marriage is ordained to perpetuate the human family; but as there will be no breaches by death in the future state, this ordinance will cease.
equal—or "like."
unto the angels—that is, in the immortality of their nature.
children of God—not in respect of character but nature; "being the children of the resurrection" to an undecaying existence (Ro 8:21, 23). And thus the children of their Father's immortality (1Ti 6:16).
37, 38. even Moses—whom they had just quoted to entangle Him.
38. not … of the dead, … for all, &c.—To God, no human being is dead, or ever will be; but all sustain an abiding conscious relation to Him. But the "all" here meant "those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world." These sustain a gracious covenant relation to God, which cannot be dissolved. In this sense our Lord affirms that for Moses to call the Lord the "God" of His patriarchal servants if at that moment they had no existence, would be unworthy of Him. He "would be ashamed to be called their God, if He had not prepared for them a city" (Heb 11:16). How precious are these glimpses of the resurrection state!
39. scribes … well said—enjoying His victory over the Sadducees.
they durst not—neither party, both for the time utterly foiled.
Lu 20:41-47. Christ Baffles the Pharisees by a Question about David and Messiah, and Denounces the Scribes.
41. said, &c.—"What think ye of Christ [the promised and expected Messiah]? Whose son is He [to be]? They say unto Him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit [by the Holy Ghost, Mr 12:36] call Him Lord?" (Mt 22:42, 43). The difficulty can only be solved by the higher and lower—the divine and human natures of our Lord (Mt 1:23). Mark the testimony here given to the inspiration of the Old Testament (compare Lu 24:44).
46, 47. Beware, &c.—(See on Mt 23:5; and Lu 14:7).
47. devour, &c.—taking advantage of their helpless condition and confiding character, to obtain possession of their property, while by their "long prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above "filthy lucre." So much "the greater damnation" awaits them. What a lifelike description of the Romish clergy, the true successors of "the scribes!"